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Start not so sunny for El Sol day-labor center
By Ana X. Ceron

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Thursday, September 07, 2006

JUPITER — The town's much anticipated day-labor center opened its doors Wednesday, after two years of debate, planning and politics.

But as an estimated 300 workers filed through the converted church building, called the El Sol Neighborhood Resource Center, a key element of the experiment's success was missing: Employers.

"This is a little slow, but I'm confident things will pick up," said Elisa Bland, the Catholic Charities division director overseeing the resource center.

By 1 p.m., an hour before the center closed, Bland said she didn't know how many employers had come to pick up workers, though more than 60 had registered over the past few months.

As Bland spoke, men sat across rows of conference tables, some sipping coffee while others munched on pastries donated by a local bakery. They were all biding their time, waiting.

"It could be that the Americans didn't know that today things were changing to the center," said Pascual Mas Suy, who didn't find work Wednesday after spending more than six hours waiting for a job offer. "Not many of them came."

And it is terribly important that "they" come — over the next few days and weeks.

The town of Jupiter has spent countless hours debating what to do and later funding the purchase of the former LifeSong Community Church building for almost $2 million.

On Tuesday night, town officials finalized the last detail by passing an ordinance banning the workers from soliciting work on the streets or in parking lots.

And then there are the town residents fed up with the hundreds of workers who'd gather at Center Street and mill about, waiting to be offered work.

"It's not good for the neighborhood," April Lane homeowner Jim Allen said.

There's the possibility that the center could drive employers away with a matchmaking program that requires both laborers and employers to register with the center.

"It might, although I would argue that it shouldn't," said Tim Steigenga, a professor at Florida Atlantic University and a board member of the migrant-advocacy group Corn Maya Inc.

Contractors, however, aren't talking. Calls for comment from five local building contractors — including a drywall business seen at the center — weren't returned Wednesday.

A woman who picked up the phone at another company said this: "We don't use those people. We're not that type of contractor."

Twenty-two-year-old Antonio Julajuj-Tuy waited for a job since El Sol opened at 6 in the morning. Five hours and some English lessons later, he still had no work.

"Look at everybody here," he said, looking bored. "It's better to wait out on the street corner."

For years town officials have heard complaints from the residents off Center Street. Each morning men would line up there for vans or pickups to slow down and offer them $10 an hour to install windows or do landscaping work.

Many of the men at El Sol (Spanish for the sun) said Wednesday they came to the United States looking for a way to feed their families back home. It's estimated that about 4,000 Hispanic residents live in this well-heeled town.

In recent years, however, there's been a culture clash.

Homeowners told officials the Center Street crowds were noisy, some of the men urinated in public and garbage littered the sidewalks after the workers left.

The town's council members started talking about opening a resource center two years ago to move the soliciting indoors.

Last year, the town purchased the former LifeSong Community Church site for $1.9 million, eyeing the property next to the municipal complex for more office space. But with expansion plans not yet finalized, the space has been leased to Catholic Charities and Corn Maya.

On Tuesday officials realized their hope of clearing up Center Street, with the passage of the anti-solicitation ordinance. If an employer or worker breaks the rule, they could face a fine of up to $500 or three months in jail.

What happens with the El Sol center is of interest to other Palm Beach County communities dealing with similar workforce issues.

Lake Worth is keeping an eye on what happens here. Officials are considering opening a day-labor center to quell the thousands of laborers who line up along the city's downtown corridor each morning.

More than a year ago, Lake Worth suggested day laborers meet at the city's shuffleboard courts to get work. But employers never came, and the laborers retreated to their favorite spots to assure they could get work.

In Jupiter, Bland offered a few reasons for Wednesday's missing contractors.

Perhaps the early morning rain cut down on the job offers. Maybe the recent "media frenzy" on the center — which doesn't check if workers have legal status — has made others "uneasy" about coming by. Or it could be that employers aren't used to the new rules yet, she said.

Steigenga said that even if contractors didn't use the center, research shows that more than half of the people who hire laborers are individuals looking for someone to do work around their house or their neighborhood.

"It's not going to happen overnight," he said. "There'll be some tempers and complications, and we anticipate that."

On Wednesday, some workers were frustrated with the lottery system used to match them up with job offers. Some have already started talking about going elsewhere, perhaps another state.

Pascual Mas Suy said he would come again today. "Now there's no other place to find work but here," he said.